Green Peas Pulav

Living a superwoman’s life is a pressure too difficult to handle especially when you are determined to bestow all towards making it a reality. Microwave was invented particularly to help me live this being. Ha ha! If you would have asked me to talk about it during the last few semesters of my engineering days, I would have given you a far different opinion. Opportunely those days are behind letting me now enjoy the benefits.

It is difficult not getting addicted to microwave cooking for the sheer convenience it provides for urban chics (ahem ladies) especially.
I am not advocating its practice daily but those days when you are in real hurry or do not want to settle for a basic dal chawal or bread butter dinner you got to put use your friend.

Like the other day, when I reached home, well past the dinner time to learn that cooking activity was left to my skillful hands. I was not in a mood to eat anything ordinary by my standards. DH suggested pulav , raita and papad

Ingredients (for 2.5 people)
1 cup long grained basmati rice
½ cup green peas (frozen or fresh)
1 tspn curd
2 tspn cumin seeds( use only 1 if you don’t like it much)
1 bay leaf
1 cinnamon stick
3-4 cloves
3-4 black pepper whole
1 tspn ginger garlic paste
1 red chilly/ green chilly slit
1 tspn oil
salt to taste
Method
Regular pan (20 min)
1) In a sauce pan, heat oil, add the cumin seeds, bay leaf, cloves, cinnamon, pepper and sauté for a min or until the cumin seeds splutter
2) Wash the rice under tap until it is well rinsed. Mix it with ginger garlic paste and set aside.
3) Add the green peas, chilly to the pan and sauté for a few minutes.
4) Add the rice, salt and about 2 cups of water .
5) Stir in the curd and cover for about 15 min or until rice is cooked.
6) Fluff with a fork and serve with curd or raita.
Microwave (10 min)
1) In a microwave safe large bowl, put some oil and cumin seeds. MW on high for 30 seconds.
2) Wash the rice under tap until it is well rinsed. Mix it with ginger garlic paste and set aside.
3) Now remove the bowl from the microwave, add the rest of the spices, chilly and green peas.
4) Cover the bowl, and microwave for 30 seconds on high.
5) Remove the bowl, add the rice, salt, curd and water and stir well.
6) Microwave on high for 7 min.
7) If required microwave on 70% for another 2-3 min.
Serve hot with raita and papad

Tips - Do not use ground garam masala for green peas pulav as that will change the color of the rice. If you wish, you can discard the whole spices before serving.

The rice from microwave will be less soggy and fluffs up better than the pot cooked.